By Brandon Barger
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – With a year and a half to go until the 2020 election, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has more than $6 million in his campaign coffers.

That, his campaign said, surpasses the fundraising totals of any previous governor at this point in their re-election bid.

Among his contributions: $100,000 from Roger Penske, owner of the winningest team in Indianapolis 500 history.

Campaign finance reports due Monday showed that Holcomb began 2019 with about $4 million, and raised another $2.265 million from Jan. 1 through June 30. He spent about $245,000.

Holcomb, who kicked off his re-election campaign Saturday with a rally in the Knightstown gym where much of the movie “Hoosiers” was filmed, has added to his account since then, including $15,000 from the Indianapolis law firm Krieg DeVault and $10,000 from Lawrence C. Beck, president of Beck Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind. Beck was recently re-appointed by Holcomb to the Purdue University board of trustees.

Holcomb’s single largest contribution came from his running mate, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who transferred $1 million from her account to his. She closed the reporting period with about $185,000 left.

No Democrat was officially in the race for governor in the first half of the year, so did not have to file a report. So far, the only Democrat to file to challenge Holcomb is Dr. Woody Myers, who announced his candidacy last week.

Also filing his campaign finance report was Attorney General Curtis Hill. Hill raised more than $223,000 in the first half of this year, but spent more than $137,000 including more than $33,000 to a Wichita, Kansas, consulting firm.

Combined with the $120,000 Hill had at the start of the year, he has more than $206,000 in his re-election fund.

While Hill does not yet have a Democrat opponent, he has faced calls from some fellow Republicans, including Holcomb, to resign in the wake of allegations from women, including a Democrat legislator and legislative staff of both parties, that he touched them inappropriately at an end-of-session party in 2018. The women have filed a civil suit and Hill also is facing a disciplinary hearing this fall as a result of the allegations. If found to be at fault, he could lose his license to practice law – something an attorney general has to have.

FOOTNOTE: Brandon Barger is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a  news website powered by Franklin College journalists.